In a Republican primary season dominated by Donald Trump’s bombastic presence, Dr. Ben Carson has carved out his own front-runner niche by providing voters with an outsider option sans pomposity. Carson has risen to top-tier status within the crowded GOP field based in large part to voters’ belief that he is trustworthy and honest.

A recent Fox News poll found the retired neurosurgeon ranked head-and-shoulders above White House hopefuls from both parties in the category of honesty. That public perception might have sustained its first major blow this week.

Politico on Friday revealed that a key moment from the candidate’s autobiography was fabricated. While Carson wrote in Gifted Hands of a private meeting with U.S. Army Gen. Westmoreland and a subsequent scholarship to West Point Academy, at least a portion of his account, it turns out, was not accurate.

Carson camp acknowledges one childhood exaggeration. https://t.co/Grho8Hni2r // danger for Carson now is if this correction opens floodgates

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Dr. Carson was the top ROTC student in the City of Detroit. In that role he was invited to meet General Westmoreland. He believes it was at a banquet. He can’t remember with specificity their brief conversation but it centered around Dr. Carson’s performance as ROTC City Executive Officer. He was introduced to folks from West Point by his ROTC Supervisors. They told him they could help him get an appointment based on his grades and performance in ROTC. He considered it but in the end did not seek admission.

Politico’s Kyle Cheney went on to note that West Point does not offer “full scholarships,” adding that a West Point source insisted Westmoreland would not guarantee anyone entry to the prestigious institution in a conversation such as the one Carson described. Some news outlets have already used the brewing controversy to shape their respective narratives regarding the candidate. Many of his supporters, however, are proclaiming the historical revision a nonissue – especially compared to the lies told by Democrats.

In a Daily Wire editorial published Friday, conservative pundit Ben Shapiro shared his reaction to the Politico accusations. He described the entire narrative as media propaganda, explaining that if Carson is guilty of anything, it seems to be only a misinterpretation of a decades-old conversation.

“If someone told you that you could go to college for free,” he wrote, “you might reasonably conclude that you had been offered a full scholarship to attend that university. But Politico would call you a liar if you used such language to describe the exchange.”